A little girl left a Manchester Pride parade reveller 'in bits' after sharing a touching note of kindness. Jack Remmington was waiting to walk in Saturday's parade with Manchester-based charity George House Trust when he was approached by the youngster.
The girl handed him an envelope sealed with a rainbow sticker, which Jack opened to reveal the handwritten message: "You make me so proud. Happy pride day." Jack - a 27-year-old singer and popular figure on social media - shared the message on Twitter, telling followers: "A little girl, she can’t have been older than about seven, just walked up to us at Manc Pride and handed me this and now I’m in bits."
After the post received a huge warm reaction, Samantha Stewart came forward as the mum of the little girl who handed the note to Jack, seven-year-old Isabella. Along with her brother Connor, 11, the Warrington family handed out 400 cards with messages of love and support to those attending Manchester's annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.
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Jack told the Manchester Evening News : "I was waiting by the George House Trust float in Castlefield Bowl as we were walking with them in the parade, and a woman with her two children walked past. The daughter said 'excuse me can I give you this'.
"I said of course, and saw the little envelope with the heart sticker on. To start with I just thought it was that which was nice enough as the sticker had a pride flag, but I opened it to reveal the message and it was so touching.
"It kicked off my pride weekend so perfectly. Then walking in the parade we saw so many families with proud parents and so many happy kids at the front waving and blowing their whistles.
"It really set the tone for a gorgeous parade and even better day - there’s nothing like the spirit of Manchester, particularly over pride." Samantha told the M.E.N. that having previously told her two children about 'random acts of kindness', it was Connor who came up with the idea of handing out 'Happy Pride' cards at an event a few years ago.
This year, as Manchester Pride welcomed back the parade for the first time since 2019, Connor and Isabella decided to make cards and envelopes for both this weekend's event and the recent Liverpool Pride. Samantha says the pair are 'absolutely over the moon' to see the warm response to their gesture.
She added: "I'm so proud of them. They haven't let up on this idea, and really saw it through, they didn't finish handing them out until 5.30. Yesterday they embodied Pride and really took on board everything I've said to them about being inclusive.
"It's incredibly important. We all need to acknowledge our own privileges so that we can include those who are not yet equal, or outright face discrimination, in a positive way. Pride is the perfect example of celebrating how far LGBTQ+ inclusion has come, while also protesting where that inclusion hasn't yet gone far enough."
The moving gesture's importance was also noted by Jack. He said: "I think it’s a reminder that whilst the government and many media outlets are constantly fixated on this trans moral panic, ordinary every day people are generally becoming more accepting of LGBTQ rights, including those that concern trans people.
"Those children being brought up by loving and supporting parents are going to be the future change makers because they lead with kindness and it was so wonderful to experience first-hand even a small part of that. It was a really magical moment."
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